


Phantom Traces

by auralikh



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Light Angst, M/M, gay longing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 13:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18261839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auralikh/pseuds/auralikh
Summary: Hakuryuu's been feeling traces of Judar after his death. Silhouettes that last for seconds from the periphery of his vision, words spoken in the past, words spoken as if the magi was whispering into his ear.





	Phantom Traces

There was never a reason to trust Sinbad. Hakuryuu knew this. From the moment he contacted the man, he knew that he was signing a devil’s contract or getting a wish granted from a fairy who would twist the words in some way where he would obtain exactly what he wanted and everything he didn’t want. 

He didn’t expect everything to fall apart because of commerce, though.

Hakuryuu could hear his advisors squabbling in hushed voices even after the meeting, but he doesn’t have the energy to go and silence them. His body weighs heavily on the chair, his eyes glaze over the scrapped documents, notes from the meeting by the scribe. He sinks his head against his hand. What’s the point on using funds to promote agriculture when the people’s pride lies in being the perfect warrior? But that would not be an excuse in the eyes of the other nations, they have the moral higher ground in trying to stop all wars. 

_ “I didn’t pick you as my king to stress over merchant shit.” _

“Again?” Hakuryuu doesn’t bother to look up. Judar’s been dead for a year, but the man has a personality that can’t be shaken out of his consciousness. 

_ “What? You don’t miss me?” _

For the most part, Hakuryuu’s been seeing glimpses of Judar, brief shadows and silhouettes that make him take a second look, only to find nothing. Occasionally he’d hear a quote or two on occasions when he’d eat alone, in the brief silences between meetings, when he’d let his hair down and massage the arm that doesn’t feel quite right. It used to just be things Judal used to say, things that Hakuryuu could dismiss as vivid memories. But now they’re just taking a life of their own. 

“...What do you want me to do, we had to get rid of our entire military.” He speaks in a low whisper, the last thing he needed were rumors of the emperor going mad. 

The Judar in his head scoffs.  _ “So what, literally planting seeds of hatred into 50,000 soldiers was too much for you? You got bored or remorseful and dropped everything you worked for as soon as a bunch of hypocrites asked you to put your weapon down?” _

Hakuryuu presses his fingers against his temples, attempting to massage the pressure away. The devil on his shoulder takes that as a sign to continue.

_ “Wouldn’t take much to secretly build up an army again, considering you got all the men of the empire in your palm.” _ _   
_

“I can’t…”

_ “Why? The whole international committee shit probably isn’t even paying attention to you right now, expecting the Kou Empire to fall apart any second now. Don’t tell me you forgot how to use magic to raise your army in a week?” _ __   
__   
Hakuryuu digs his nails into his scalp, “I said I can’t! I… we worked so hard to get this far…” Don’t cry now, one of the advisors could come back here at any moment. He sets his hands back down on the table in a refined pose, neglecting the locks of hair that are now out of place. “But if we try to do that, then we’ll have to deal with the whole world. I’m sure even Reim would bring their arms against us.”   


_ “The whole world?” _ The Judar in his head scoffs the same way that the real one would, or maybe his memories were getting blurry,  _ “Wow Hakuryuu, it’s like you forgot everything. Did all that time I spend raising up my king get wiped away?” _

A deep breath. “No, of course not. But maybe... Maybe it’s because we were wrong.”

Judar doesn’t answer and Hakuryuu’s left with the silence of the candles and the emptiness that comes with it. Hakuryuu looks down at the flesh that is his left hand (or would it be more apt to call it Kouen’s?) That empty feeling he first had, looking back on the new limbs Kouen gave him on the eve of the execution, haunts him again. He glances up at the ceiling but nothing changes, that voice in his head doesn’t respond.

“...Judar?”

Still nothing. Hakuryuu looks back down. At least he felt more alive when he had that voice to argue with.

 

* * *

It’s been two months and he still hasn’t heard anything from Judar. Of course, the ghost of the man appears in the corners or his eyes, encroaching closer and closer to basically living on his shoulder, and then suddenly disappears again. Even when Hakuryuu puts his hair down again and presses his left wrist with his thumb, pressing straight down the palm to his middle finger, there’s no sudden shadow or voice. It’s like the magi died on him again, this time with some greater sense of finality. 

He lies down on the bed after massaging his left arm and both legs, staring up at the ceiling that can only stare back. The state of the empire is only falling further, and people are either leaving, growing resentful, or are too prideful to do anything but sink with the nation. Kougyoku always keeps a smiling face when he’s around, but he can see her eyes are tinged with worry. He suspects she’ll only get more anxious with the talk they just had, but there’s nothing else he can do but tell her. He burrows himself in the blankets and closes his eyes. It’s probably what’s best for the empire anyways. Or rather, that’s the best option he has.

Hakuryuu’s abruptly shaken awake. He groans, usually the servants would only need to open the shades to wake him up, and it’s not even light out yet. He opens one eye and almost rolls out of bed when he sees the silhouette of a person laying down next to him, hand on their hip.

“What, I thought you liked it when I gave little surprises like this?”

“Judar?” Hakuryuu blinks and the contours of the person’s face become more apparent, recognizable as his sight adjusts to the dim moonlight and the lanterns from outside. “Is this… this has to be some kind of dream, right? Is Belial somehow able to mess with me again?” There’s a short smile, but more out of amusement than actually answering anything.

Judar sits up and his plaited hair falls to the side, blocking the light from the window and obscuring his face once more. “I’m as real as you want me to be, your highness. Which is probably not a lot, since you’re different from me now, right?” 

Hakuryuu gulps but also sits up so they can be on eye to eye level. “I am different now, I won’t try to hide it. But you weren’t there for the battle, or the aftermath. When Kouen helped me even though I was about to have him killed…”

“So what, you feel empty now? Like some husk?”

Hakuryuu keeps his mouth closed. Judar sighs and continues. “...My poor, poor king, tell me then,” He presses his finger on Hakuryuu’s chest, right above the heart, “Did you feel empty back then?”

Hakuryuu takes a deep breath that’s shaky at the exhale. They both already know the answer to this. Judar’s just playing with him, and yet Hakuryuu’s going along instead of swatting Judar’s hand away. “...No. If anything, I never felt-”

“More alive.”

“...Yeah.”

Judar laughs, “As great of a king vessel you are, you’re pretty useless without me, huh?” He presses his finger deeper as he inches closer, and the energy sparking out of his finger made Hakuryuu’s heart skip a beat, but in the way where it feels like his heart might just stop working entirely. That finger could just pierce into his flesh and stop everything inside, yet he’s still sitting here, looking into a face he can’t see.

“Do you hate me now that you’ve gotten all self-righteous and morally upstanding like the others?”

Hakuryuu can’t shake the feeling that if he lies, his chest with be slashed, just like in Belial’s trial. And he still can’t see Judar’s face -- is it because of how dark it it is or because he can’t clearly remember what it’s supposed to look like? 

“I don’t hate you at all.” He huffs and brushes Judar’s hand away. There’s no jolt of electricity or flash of steel, he’s being honest after all. “I always knew I was going the “wrong” way, fixating myself on revenge. You did too.” He looks down at the hand he swatted away and slowly brings his hand over it. It’s cold to the touch. “But I think there’s more to it then that. I don’t think it would have made me feel nearly as alive if I had to do it all alone.”

Judar shifts and his hair swings to the other side, letting Hakuryuu see the left half of his face. But just seeing how much Judar’s eye widened and that small part of his lips made Hakuryuu smile. “Yeah, I was pretty useless before you too. I was so set on doing everything without anyone’s help, especially anyone associated with Al-Thamen. But in the end, I couldn’t get either of my metal vessels alone. I couldn’t have set up an entire army alone. I couldn’t have killed Gyokuen alone. Even when you died… I couldn’t win against Kouen alone.”

Judar shakes Hakuryuu’s hand away, “Save the sob story for the real me, dumbass.” He wipes away tears that Hakuryuu didn’t even realize he was shedding. He barely even realizes he’s leaning into the hand right now.

“For the real you? What are you talking about?”

“What, you think that I could just get shoved into the cosmos and just die like that? You’ll see.” Judar gets off of the bed and stands up, now Hakuryuu can see his full face, smiling. “But first you gotta wake up, you got a whole empire full of people waiting for their king. I’ll be waiting for you too.”

Birds start to chirp and the sun begins to rise, heralding a warm light to the entire room. Hakuryuu gets up on his knees on the bed, hair a complete mess but that doesn’t matter because the floors are fading into the light except for Judar’s body, who was losing his form to the black rukh. 

“Judar, wait-!” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon. Don’t fuck up completely during that time though, alright?”

“Soon? It’s been two years!?”

Judar leaves without a response again, instead turning around with what remained of his head and torso to the light, and his entire form disintegrated into a flock of black rukh that flew directly towards Hakuryuu. He covers his face with his arms, half-expecting the worst, when the curtains fly open and he’s awakened by one of the servants to another day of ruling a rotting empire.

 


End file.
